ruler when i'm doing carpentry. this explains why nothing in my house is quare. >> sometimes you get 13 inches, sometimes travel plans on ice. parts of the southeast getting major dose of the defend freeze. >> democrats take action, unveiling an ambitious plan to ban so-called assault weapons. does this stand a chance in congress? >> new questions about chandra levy's murderment a judge takes a closer look at this case. if can you believe that. good morning to you. welcome to "early start." happy friday. >> it is friday, january 25th. let me repeat that, it is friday, january 25th. 5:00 a.m. in the east. >> he came in dancing this morning. >> up first, it's that cold

where? so with a quarter of the country in a deep freeze, now the arctic cold front moving to the southeast. forecasters expect freezing rain and dangerous accumulations of ice across the carolinas and tennessee. the extreme weather is blamed for at least three deaths so far. alexandra steel is standing fwoi look ahead. first, we're going to go to jennifer delgado live in nashville which is supposed to be the south, jennifer. >> reporter: yeah, exactly. the south is bracing for a messy commute out there. right now we're at the tennessee department of vpgs. of course, you see all the salt back there and the salt trucks. they're prepared to go up and have been going out all night long to lay that salt on the road. of course, we're talking about a very messy commute. we're going to be looking at potential for black ice, especially on the overpasses and over about the last half hour, the rain, the freezing rain has been starting to come down. it shouldn't come as a surprise after such an extreme week of wild weather.

frigid temperatures and wind chills plague the country. >> freezing. >> cold. >> gosh! freezing out here, man. >> reporter: and now freezing rain and ice in tennessee. crews armed with salt trucks are at the ready. >> we have 32 counties here in the middle tennessee area that tdot will be keeping an eye on. we'll have enough people to make sure the roads are ready for rush hour. >> reporter: relentless freezing rain in salt lake city forced all the runways at the he is city's international airport to close thursday. some parts of the great lakes picked up between two and three feet of lake-effect snow this week which led to this pileup in ohio. in new hampshire, brutal subzero wind chills continue to plummet. precautions under way at pat's peak ski area to keep workers and patrons safe. >> we give them hand warmers and foot warmers. we rotate them and allow them to come into the huts that are warmed up for breaks. >> in the midwest, a stubborn

warehouse fire that started on tuesday night rekindled again in bridgeport, illinois, leaving the structure looking like a massive igloo. it's so cold in minnesota, pipes froze leading to this ice rink melting. >> everything runs through a condenser outside. that started slushing up on us. we couldn't get rit of the heat that we needed to to keep cooling. >> reporter: but it could always be worse. wind chills at the top of mt. washington registered negative 85 degrees. >> the best way i heard it described is think of yourself diving into a very, very cold pool of water. it doesn't matter how well you're covered up, the air finds a way in. >> reporter: yeah, and, you know, we are here right now and the temperature outside right now is at 30 degrees. so we're below freezing. it looks like we're going to stay that way through 9:00 a.m. for nashville. for oer parts like eastern

tennessee as well and northeastern georgia, that's where we're expecting the highest amounts of possible ice accumulation. could see about a quarter inch. when you start to get that, you start to see the trees and potentially power lines coming down. but for here, we are thinking about a tenth of an inch. certainly the roadways will be slippery out here in addition to the ice we're talking about snow. i think alexandra steel will have more about that coming up in just a moment. i was asking, i'm not even sure if you can see my face because i'm so bundled up right now. and i'm trying to protect the hair. >> i'm sure the hair looks good. >> that's my girl. >> i can see a little bit of your face and then the salt trucks waiting to get out. >> here i am. >> good morning. jennifer delgado in washington with the salt trucks with, the hair, great to see you. >> and with the great attitude. >> that's right. >> alexandra steel is at the weather senter in atlanta. good morning you to. >> good morning to you. all right, jennifer is out, the temperature is 30. the wind chill, what it feels

like for her is 24 degrees. i want to show you the big picture. there are mitigating factors with this storm. there is a lot of dry air. you can see chicago has not seen one inch of snow since february 24th all last year. so in the last almost 11 months they have not seen an inch of snow. will they pull out an inch with this? i don't know if they're going to. mitigating factors for this being a big winter storm, one, a lot of dry air. also what is happening is the gulf isn't open so there is no moisture coming in to enhance any rain or snow or freezing rain. so that being said, i don't think this is going to be a blockbuster. here's nashville where jennifer is. you can see barely any ice coming through. and you can see it's very dry. so even what we are looking at is called virga. it's falling from the sky. the atmosphere at the surface is so dry, nothing is coming to the ground. that being said, washington, d.c., around 4:00, the snow starts.

maybe one to two inches of snow for you. new york city, by tonight, we'll see it. maybe an inch of snow. then it pushes out. so you guys, it's a quick hitter. no question about that. a one day affair. a lot of mitigating factors. so don't really expect any blockbusters. >> all right. one day. it's packing a nice punch for everybody. alexandra steel live in atlanta, thank you. >> sure. >> the other news this morning, a big push to ban assault weapons. dianne feinstein of california taking the lead in an effort to renew the ban. she made the announcement in dramatic fashion. flanked by survivors of gun violence and examples of ten different types of assault weapons, she was granted special clearance to display the weapons in washington including an ar-15. that is the kind of gun used to kill children in newtown. >> these massacres don't seem to stop. they continue on. columbine, virginia tech, aurora, tucson, oak creek.

the common thread in these shootings is each gunman used a semiautomatic assault weapon or large capacity ammunition magazines. >> so the goal is to get the weapons off the streets over time. paul steinhouser joins us now. feinstein is also providing exemptions here. >> reporter: she s she's almost reaching out to gun owners who use their weapons for hunting and sporting tachlt a listen to what she said at the news conference, john. >> the bill protects hunters and sportsmen by protecting 2200 specifically named weapons used for hunting or sporting purposes. they are by make and model exempted from the legislation. when we did this bill in '93, there were 375. today, there are 2,200.

>> reporter: so do the exemptions make any difference with the national rifle association? >> senator feinstein has been trying to ban guns for decades. it's disappointing but not surprising she is focused on occur tailing the constitution instead of fixing our broken mental health system. gun bans do not work and we're confident that congress will reject her wrong headed approach. action resuming next week in the senate on guns, john. >> is senator feinstein put on a big show. there was big drama. does this have any chance of getting passed? >> reporter: very difficult chance. it will be a tough road ahead. it's not because of republicans in this case. it's because of democrats. remember, in the senate there are a lot of democrats from red states. some of them up for re-election next year, john. not sure whether they're going to support this bill or not. if it does pass, then it goes to the house which is controlled about it republicans which will be even tougher hurdle to go over. what is public opinion on this? take a look at our most recent

poll. very much in line with most other polls from other osh organizations. a majority do favor the ban on the semiautomatic guns. but we're seeing a partisan divide, republicans against the democrats in favor. and a gender gap as well. take a look at this number. sp support for this ban is diminishing a little bit after we conducted the poll after the shooting in newtown, connecticut. joe biden was very active in all this. he as well as homeland security janet napolitano and other top administration officials are going to richmond, virginia. they're going to be holding a town hall there on gun control. and he was talking about this yesterday as well. we'll talk more about that next hour, john. >> fantastic. great to see you this morning. >> thank you. >> nine minutes past the hour. more angry threats from north korea overnight. a statement from the country's unification committee warns of what they call physical counter measures against south korea if

they directly participate in u.n. sanctions against the north. the statement calls seoul a puppet to the west and says the latest u.n. resolution passed earlier this week is equivalent to a declaration of war. >> rhode island could be the next state where same self couples can get married. house lawmakers approved a measure by a vote of 51-19. the bill has been introduced every year for 11 years there and this was the first time it made that a committee. the bill now has to go to the senate. if it does survive there, the governor said he'll sign it. >> will is a new jedi master report that seas j.j. abrams will be at the helm of the next "star wars" movie episode seven. it falls "return of the jedi" in the "star wars" chronology. it will be the first produced by disney. announced plans for a star wars trilo trilogy, seven, eight, and nine. disney slated seven for a

2015ment release. j.j. abrams is also behind the "star trek" film "into darkness" which will be out in may. >> i have such high hopes for this. "the star trek" reboot was fantastic. i'm hoping seven is better than one, two, three. i promise we'll pay a lot of attention to this going forward. i think having given the due over the last several months with election and inauguration, we let that overshadow the major news of "star wars." all right, so more than a decade ago the search for missing washington intern chandra levy captivated the nationme. now brand new questions about this murder case coming up. plus, america finally hears from manti te'o, his regrets about that fake girlfriend hoax is straight ahead. ♪

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he says the pain was very real. manti te'o opening up about the internet hoax that made headlines and unleashed punch lines all over the web. he told katie couric he has some regrets but insisted he was telling the truth. listen. >> for people feeling that they're misled, you know, that i'm sorry for. but i wasn't as forthcoming about it. but i didn't lie. you know, i never was asked did you see her in person? >> george howl is joining us now. he's been following this story very closely from the very beginning. and, george, what do you think? there's a lot of chatter about this interview. did it help him or hurt him? >> there is a lot of chatter. you get mixed reaction. there are some people who are sympathetic for what they heard the other day. others, not so much. but throughout that interview, te'o insisted he believed that his girlfriend was real and then when he realized he'd been

duped, he didn't know what to say about it. manti te'o denied any involvement in the hoax about the online girlfriend he never met, a woman we now know never existed. >> either you're the most naive person on the planet or this is the saddest story i think ever written. it goes on and on and on. >> yeah. >> this web of lies. >> i thought this was -- how could this all happen to one person? i had my doubts. >> reporter: te'o says he got a phone call in september telling him his girlfriend had died of cancer. then in december, before the heisman trophy ceremony, he got another phone call saying she was alive. but te'o didn't change his story. >> at the heisman trophy ceremony, you were interviewed. you repeated the story that your girlfriend had, in fact, died of cancer. that's a lie. why would you say that? >> at that time i didn't know. to be honest with you.

like, i did not know. >> reporter: she asked for proof of an intimate relationship and te'o provided phone records, even voice mail. >> i'll talk to you tomorrow. i love you so much. >> you have no idea who the voice on the other end of the phone was. do you think that might have been a man on the other end of the phone? >> well, it didn't sound like a man. it sounded -- it sounded like a woman. but if he somehow made that voice, that's incredible. >> reporter: te'o says this man called him to admit his part in the hoax. the same man whose voice may have been on the voicemails. he also learned the identity of the woman was actually a picture of diana o' meara, a 23-year-old marketing executive who never met te'o. both te'o and o' meara

apparently knew the man looking back at the web of confusion. te'o says his biggest regret is the impact it had on his family. >> the greatest joy in any child's life is to make your parents proud. the greatest pain is to know that they're experiencing pain because of you. >> you know, throughout that interview, there were signs te'o said that, you know, he did notice that when he tried to see his girlfriend she wasn't available. when they tried to facetime, she could see him but he could not see her. so, you know, was he duped here? did he play a part in the hoax? he insisted that he didn't. or was the sort of thing where he wanted to believe something so badly that he would believe anything? you know, those are the questions people are asking after watching that interview. >> i have to tell you, before the interview a lot of questions that people were asking, is he or isn't he gay? katie couric asked him specifically that and that has

been all the talk. >> reporter: that was brought up in the interview. when you look at that interview in its entirety, you know, he was calm, he was very composed throughout. that is one point where he became very emotional. take a listen. >> one of the theories, many theories, man tie, mati te'o isd this whole scenario to cover up your sexual orientation. are you gay? >> no, far from it. far from it. >> you talk about emotion, you know, that's as excited or, you know, to the point as we saw him through that interview. >> indeed. and that's creating a lot of talk this morning. george howl, thank you very much. >> the talk being created that it's the one moment where he really was so specific where he had showed some emotion to deny that he's gay. what does that say about the culture in football? that is one thing he'd rather be dumb than gay.

>> that's a moment, showed some controversy may have shown his inner self there. 19 minutes after the hour. time for the early reads that, is your local newsmaking national at headlines. this is a murder mystery that turned washington, d.c. upside down. it was huge. now a brand new development in the chandra levy murder case. "the washington post" reporting that defense attorneys want a retrial. they say prosecutors withheld important information about a witness. we don't know which witness is involved. but defense attorneys say the government already had the information during trial. 30-year-old igmar from the u.s. who was in the u.s. illegally is serving a 60-year senten convic murder. there was a congressman involved in the press about this case. that forced him out of office. it was a mammoth story. >> huge scandal. 20 minutes past the hour. it's good/bad that the housing market is recovering.

when you see home buyers in a bidding war to land their dream home, christine romans is going to take a closer look for us. when you have diabetes...

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we're minding your business this morning. stocks set for a small bounce back today. this comes after, wow, huge the 12% drop that apple took yesterday bringing down the nasdaq. >> today, new housing data can actually help lift the mood around here. christine, it's lifted her mood. she wants to be ringing bells for you this morning. >> i said for months and months, i said i can't wait until i can ring the bell and say the bottom is here in the housing market. it's here. we'll get more evidence of it today. new home sales are out today after the opening bell. we're expecting another increase. sales of new homes are at a two-year high. good news for just about everyone. refinancing, first time home buyers and, of course, the economy. last month david and grace chu got married.

now they're about to close on their dream home. a brand new four bedroom, five bath center hall colonial. >> we're really looking for a new home. >> reporter: this house was on the market for just two weeks before the seller accepted their offer. that's a good sign. more than 30% of all homes sold in december were on the market for less than a month. the average time on the market for all homes, 73 days. >> i try to tell my clients if they really love the home, you know, be ready. be ready for a bidding war. >> reporter: here's what's driving the recovery in home sales. first, jobs. supply and, of course, interest rates. interest rates hovering at 40-year lows. at the same time, rents are rising. >> our rent has literally gone up 40% over the past two years. so i think that has really pushed us in particular to look for a home. >> reporter: the new house moves more money through the economy than the sale of an existing home. >> building new homes creates jobs and the construction

secretary your. furnishing a new home with new appliances, starting from scratch, obviously means that it feeds through the improvement of home sales. and on the new home sale side in particular feeds through more broadly to the economy. >> reporter: it sounds like the chus are just beginning. >> we're really lucky that this new construction was in an area that we liked. and hopefully we'll be able to build more into it. i'm sorry. >> it's really the renters who are in such a good place right now. renters are seeing the rents go up just like the chu's especially in big cities. interest rates are so low and we have money in the bank because we didn't buy a couple years ago. prices are down so much. it's finally affordable for the first time in a lot of places. if you have job, money in the bank and a good credit score, the world is yours. >> a trifecta that most of americans don't have. >> more than half of america. so first the flu and now this.

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frozen on a friday. an ice storm threatens travel across the southeast. >> a major massacre averted. the inside story of a cop's one-on-one encount we are a killer and how it prevented another mass shooting tragedy. hard to stomach, literally.

a warning from doctors about a bold new virus strain sweeping the country. been there. it ain't fun. welcome back to "early start," everyone. >> you had it? >> it was bad. >> nasty. >> we'll talk more about that later. >> trust me. take my word for it. >> thanks for being us with, everyone. it's friday, january 25th. it is 31 minutes past the hour. it's the deep freeze we are talking about. it's still gripping much of the nation. snow and dangerous accumulations of ice are expected today across the southeast as the arctic weather system continues to move in. take a look out west. freezing rain forced the runways at salt lake city's international airport to shut down. at least for some time yesterday. cnn's jennifer is live in tennessee for us. >> frio. it is very cold, absolutely. the temperature is 31 degrees. we've been seeing rain come down. of course we're starting to see looks like a little sleet

popping into areas across parts of middle tennessee. now keep in mind, we are at the tennessee department of transportation. you can see all the salt back there. well, there is somebody who's in control of the salt. his name is berl tidwell. you have a big job here. of course, last week you had an ice storm that came through. that was a pretty minor one. but now you're ready for this one. tell us how you kind of tackle is storm. i know you do this in two different parts. >> yes. yesterday we put out brine. we geared up for salt. and we're out tonight on our routes if anything happens we're out there ready to go. >> okay. and why do you put the brine down first? i know when you put the salt down, it lowers the freezing point. >> it actually keeps the frozen precipitation from sticking to the road. this makes it easier to remove. >> how many crews do you have out there right now trying to protect everybody? >> we have 40 personnel with 40 trucks. >> 40 trucks. so there seems to be a lot of

salt there. i know some of the winters have been a little quiet in the past. do you have a surplus? are we worried about a shortage? right now when i'm looking at it, it looks piled high. >> we have plenty this year. we'll be okay. i think we may have a mild winter. so we'll be good. >> you may have enough to share with other people. really, you're concerned about people getting on the roads and overpasses. that is the biggest concern around here? >> yes. i want everyone to be careful. it may be some ice. you don't know it's there until you actually run up on it. so everyone, please be careful. >> absolutely. and you know, i want to kind of point out again right now it's a little quiet. we're going to continue to see bands and more moisture coming through in the form of freezing rain and sleet. also want to show you look how berl is dressed. hello? where are you from? he is dressed much more modestly than i am. >> he's used to it, right? it doesn't phase him at all. >> you understand the cold. >> but it's nice to see they're prepared for this weather that's headed their way. that's really good to see.

jennifer delgado, thank you very much. >> with the brine boss of nashville, tennessee. 33 minutes after the hour. as if the flu outbreak isn't enough, the cdc says a new strain of virus reached the u.s. from australia. according to the cdc, the bug accounted for 58% of last month's stomach flu cases causing nausea, force will have vomiting, diarrhea and abdomen mall pa pain. new strains have the potential to increase disease because people haven't been exposed to it before. >> wow. that's terrible. on the heels of the flu. so leon panetta saying that military members meet the qualifications they should have the right to serve. no matter their creed or color or gender or sexual orientation. during yesterday's announcement, lifting the ban on women in combat, he sang the praises of women who have served, are serving or pay the ultimate

price. >> for more than a decade of war, they have demonstrated courage and skill and patriotism. 152 women in uniform have died serving this nation. in iraq and afghanistan. >> this is one of pa net why's last significant policy decisions. he is expected to leave in mid-february. it isn't clear where his nominated replacement chuck hagel stands on. this he was briefed on panetta's announcement. >> coming up on "starting point," we talk with a marine captain, one of four service women who joined a lawsuit challenging the pentagon's women policy and author continuk king browne. a local reporter goes into an

animal pen and watch this. >> from the county fair, linda carson, abc 7. would you not eat my pants? >> let's look at that again. what a good sport she is. she's laughing. >> linda carson, abc 7 -- would you not eat my pants. i'm sorry, with he can just cancel the show and watch that for another hour and a half. she was recording a track for her story about kids that raise goats. she is totally okay. completely okay. that is the only reason we can show this to you and laugh as hard as we are. we are told the pen was recently cleaned. so you know, the fallout is rather gross. >> look at her face. she's such a good sport. she's laughing through it. >> that's a tough interview. i've had tough interviews, but that's tough. >> all right. 36 minutes past the hour.

two years ago today the world witnessed a revolution in egypt. we'll go live to cairo. that is coming up. >> plus, a cop with a keen instinct may have prevent a mass shooting tragedy. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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welcome back, everyone. the details are disturbing enough. 15-year-old boy accused of killing his family at their home last week. five people dead and the youngest, a girl just 2 years old. the scene at the house, it was horrific. the sheriff said he never seen anything like it before. but as bad as this all is, this story could have been worse. much worse. authorities say the boy had bigger, even deadlier plans. but for some reason, he did not go through with them. cnn's reporter has the details now. >> reporter: do you feel that this place, this church that you love, came pretty darn close to becoming newtown? >> absolutely.

101%. absolutely. >> reporter: vince harrison was staring at the gunman, the 15-year-old who early saturday morning according to detectives had just massacred his entire family and planned to continue killing until the police killed him. oddly enough, the former albuquerque police officer was actually leading a drill on what to do when a shooter is loose in a church. and he came face-to-face with the reality. >> thinking about it, you know, yeah, does it send chills up my spine? i'm not sure if he came here for help. this was his life away from home. >> a home life that was hard who said the shooter's father practiced tough love. >> i think he was a tyrant. and the kid under that type pressure. i didn't see any sign of love among those people. >> reporter: the heartbreaking details of what happened in their home start with the young boy arguing with his mother according to detectives who say when she went to sleep, the

15-year-old took his father's # father's .22 caliber rifle and that woke up his mother. he lifted up his dead mother's head and showed it to him before killing him as well. and then his 5-year-old sister and the youngest member of the family, the 2-year-old were next. at this point, the investigators say he changed weapons and waited hours until his father greg came home. detectives say the one time gang member and now pastor was shot in the back and killed with his own ar-15. investigators believe the boy wasn't done yet. saying he reloaded the ar-15 and the .22 caliber rifle and put them with more ammo into the family minivan. investigators say he wanted to come to this walmart. why? according to the criminal complaint, to murder more people in a populated area and then die in a gun fight with police. but for some reason, the teen

changed his mind and instead drove to his family's church. he left the guns in the van and went inside where he spent the day like an average teenager hanging out with his girlfriend, the skate park, basketball courts and bookstore. the first time in trouble at the mega church was when pastor justin marchbury was told by the per igser that something was wrong with his family so he asked the 15-year-old if he knew anything. >> what he was saying is my family is dead. >> he told the pastor and vince harrison he had been home and discovered his dead family but for some reason did not call police. >> just his behavior was real quiet and cold and a matter of fact. and the red flag started going up. >> reporter: they decided to take him to his house to see if the story was true. but a mile from the house, harrison felt something he hadn't since his days as a homicide cop. >> something evil was not right. it felt like a darkness. >> reporter: he pulled over and got out of the car so he couldn't hear him call 911. sheriff's deputies met them at

the house. they used his key and found the bodies. deputies arrested the teen quietly. authorities say he eventually confessed and told officers he started his killing spree because he was angry with his mother. he seemed disconnected, say officers, only getting excited when he talked about his love of violent video games. a stunning turn for his church community who saw the youngster grow up as a normal child until the day of the murders. >> part of what i do as a pastor is i'm watching out for the church for the people here. and part of that is paying attention. >> reporter: do you think paying attention made a difference here? >> i think taking it seriously and following through did. >> reporter: the difference between a family tragedy and what could have been another newtown. cnn, albuquerque, new mexico. >> amazing. he is in custody without bond. he has not entered a plea yet. prosecutors say they will try him as an adult. more than 2,000 people went to

the church earlier this week to honor the family. church leaders called not only for justice but for mercy as well. >> that's interesting. 44 minutes past the hour. coming up, the chase is on with a robbery suspect bent on trying to get away at all cost. plus, the revolution in egypt two years later. a live look at cairo. we're going to go there live coming up. [ man ] i've been out there most of my life. you name it...i've hooked it. but there's one... one that's always eluded me. thought i had it in the blizzard of '93. ha! never even came close. sometimes, i actually think it's mocking me. [ engine revs ] what?! quattro!!!!! ♪ olaf gets great rewards for his small business! pizza!

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welcome back. 47 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date. here is christine romans. >> good morning. no relief from this arctic air that's gripped about a third of the country. people in the southeast are going to feel it today. forecasters expect snow and dangerous accumulations of ice in the carolinas also in parts of tennessee. this is what's left of a battery from a boeing 787 dreamliner. the battery was spewing molten electrolites before the plane land in boston. >> that's not good, right? >> a battery is not supposed to look like that and it's never supposed to happen inside of a plane. no one was hurt. the ntsb says nothing like this is supposed to happen and it could have ended in disaster. all 787 dreamliners ground while investigators look at this problem. it is still a mystery about what's going wrong in the dreamliners. check out this police chase

in albuquerque. a man driving a stolen suv, he does a 360 degree. he is crisscrossing medians, going the wrong way. he nearly hit a school bus. also barely avoided some pedestrians. thankfully, no one was hurt. eventually pulled over and gave up. unbelievable. >> that was very smart. got out of the car and got down right away. >> there you go. >> thank you. appreciate that. it is 49 minutes past the hour. we're going to go overseas and take a look at the live pictures from cairo. protesters returned this morning. they are marking that two-year anniversary of their revolution there. the world was watching when thousands took to the square to protest what they called dire living conditions, corruption, and police brutality. it led to the overthrow of mu bar bar hosni mubarak.

how much has changed there? we have a reporter live in cairo. can we go back to the live pictures and explain exactly what's going on there? >> reporter: there are clashes taking place. we don't want to blow things out of proportion. this is a street a few blocks away from the square that leads to government buildings. police recollected a concrete barrier on one side. you have young protesters. they look like teenagers throwing rocks over the babarri police. a few blocks from that street, things are very calm. not a lot of people out here. a few hundred. we expect the larger crowds to come after friday prayers which end about an hour and a half from now. it's hard to believe it was two years ago when egyptians started an uprising that toppled former president hosni mubarak, of course that uprising started here in tahrir square.

they said enough with hosni mubarak. we want our political freedom. we want jobs, a better way of life. i don't think a lot of people expected hosni mubarak to be toppled. incredibly, he was. however, two years later, not all egyptians are celebrating. in fact, the people who will be packing into tahrir are protesting against the president now, mohamed morsi and his supporters, islamic factions, muslim brotherhood. the protesters behind us are the moderates, liberals who claim that mohamed morsi of the muslim brotherhood hijacked the principles of the revolution and that's why they're out here today. >> some people believe that they're having a hard time really digesting the concept of democracy and that that's just going to take some time. you have heard that? >> reporter: well, we heard a lot of opinions. the fact is at this point this

is a country that is divided. it's going through an identity crisis on one hand. you have the secularists, the moderates who want their version of egypt. and then you have the president mohammed morsi who say this is the right way to move forward with the democratic process. in the end, the problems egypt is facing to day are very much what think faced two, three, four years ago, a bad economy, joblessness, inflation, the key is can this government address those problems while it's fractured with these protests taking place? >> all right. thank you so much. we appreciate that. i can't believe it's been two years already. so many people in that country want some sense of stability to get their lives back on track and face the future. >> so many people were hopeful this would be it. yet, this is what we're seeing. >> it is 52 minutes after the hour. when we come back, a little fun with a serious question. brenda versus kelly. who you got in this? dylan mckay finally decides once

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welcome back to "early start." it is 56 minutes past the hour. we're taking a look at the top cnn trends on the web this morning. >> first up, kicking him while he's down. nfl.com says the league fined tom brady for unnecessary roughness in the afc championship game against the ravens. patriots qb, what he did is he kicked his leg high during a slide in the second quarter. into legendary safety ed reed. so fined $10,000 for that. you know what? he is tom brady and still home

with his model wife. >> i know you feel he can do no wrong. >> never. >> dylan mckay would choose kelly. and berman is all over this. the most burning question in the history of teen soap operas has been answered for you. actor luke perry who played dylan mckay on beverly hild 90290 was on bravo's watch what happens live playing the game marry, shag or kill. he said he would marry torre spelling because of a promise that he made to her late dad. he would shag jenny garth and kill brenda, aka, shannen doherty. there you go, kelly over brenda. >> in fairness that, is the right decision. >> you would have made the right decision? >> i was more of a "melrose" guy than "90210." >> i never watched. i thyme the only person on planet earth. >> in fairness, you are a little older. >> you're just evil to me this

morning. >> checking on other cnn trends, head to cnn.com/trend. >> late night on jimmy kimmel's show, under siege by actors. take a look at. this i have to run. >> let me ask you this. as an audience, is it weird to see a person with actual talent host the show? i'm very excited to be here, obviously. jimmy bumped me from his show 1,205 times. for ten years every night i wait in that greenroom. and every night kimmel says, apologies to matt damon, we ran out of time. i've been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. every time i got bumped off this show, it left a mark. but if you bump a man long enough, a night will come when he bumps you back.

and tonight is that night, my friends. i am in command of this ship! [ applause ] >> i can't do it to jimmy! >> ben, come on! ben! >> that is precisely what i want to do to you. >> this actually was an epic television moment. people will be talking about that jimmy kimmel show for years to come. >> "early start" continues right now. >> travel plans on ice. parts of the southeast getting a major dose of the deep freeze. hanging on for dear life. take a look. a police officer dragged after a traffic stop went horribly wrong. and finder's keepers? why a young man in florida says a multimillion dollar bank owned mansion is all his now. >> that's the ultimate finder's keepers. good morning. welcome to "early start," everyone. i'm john berman.

it's friday. >> yes, it is. we're very excited about that. we're happy to have you with us. it's just about 6:00 a.m. here on the east coast. up first, of course, we're talking about the first, talkinp freeze. it marches south. a new round of snow and ice bearing down on the southeastern united states. bitter cold temperatures from the carolinas to tennessee and further south will make for some treacherous travel for you. the extreme weather is blamed for at least three deaths so far. alexandra steele standing by at the cnn weather center. first, jennifer delgado live in nashville, tennessee. where they need a lot of salt. >> they do. and right now, zoraida, right at 31 degrees. we know that freezing is at 32 degrees. we've been seeing precipitation in the form of rain and freezing rain. the problem is, it looks like we'll see threat for more of that popping up as we go through rush hour. from 7:00 until 9:00,

potentially 10:00. you can see the crews, getting the salt. going out to lay this down to help prevent areas of black ice forming on roadways and overpasses and, of course, weather like this shouldn't come as a surprise after a wild, wild weather week. frigid temperatures and record-breaking windchills continue to playing much of the country. >> horrible. freezing cold. >> it's freezing out here, man. >> freezing rain and ice in tennessee. crews armed with salt trucks are at the ready. >> we have 32 counties here in the middle tennessee area we'll be keeping an eye on. we'll have enough people here to make sure roads are ready for rush hour in the morning. >> relentless freezing rain in salt lake city forced all the runways at the city's international airport to close on thursday. some parts of the great lakes, picked up between two and three feet of lake-effect snow this week, which led to this pileup

in ohio. in new hampshire, brutal subzero wind chills. precautions at ski areas to keep workers and patrons safe. >> we give them hand warmers and foot warmers, rotate them more frequently and allow them to come into huts that are warmed up for breaks. >> and a stubborn warehouse fire rekindled and it made the building look like a massive ig lo. and pipes froze, leading to this ice rink melting. >> we couldn't get rid of the heat we needed to keep cooling. >> windchills at the top of mt. washington, registered a negative 85 degrees. >> the best we've heard it described, think of yourself diving into a very, very cold pool of water. it doesn't matter how well you are covered up, the air finds a

way in. >> reporter: and you heard him. can you imagine, minus 85 windchill? we, of course, are in nashville. he would track freezing rain event as it moves through parts of middle tennessee and parts of the carolinas. some of the freeze warnings are going to be in effect until later on this evening. also want to point out to you, nashville has roughly 10,000 tons of salt out here. 100,000 tons i should say. >> that's good news. >> plenty in supply for surplus. that won't be a problem. i also want to point out, you want to make sure you are taking it slow on the roadways, because the threat of black ice will be great, especially during the morning commute. also want to point out. we're using the phone, tracking the storm and tracking it in the studio, and alexandra will talk more about parts of eastern tennessee and northeastern georgia. where they could see a quarter inch of freezing rain and that could be enough to take down

power lines or even trees. >> what a mess. jennifer, thank you very much. >> as jennifer said, alexandra steele at the cnn weather center in atlanta. what, where, and when it happens next. >> good morning, john. hi, everyone. let me give you a big prospect. this is showing you chicago. this is snow, right? what appears to be snow. we are losing a lot of energy with this storm. the bark is worse than the bite. chicago has not seen an inch of snow since last february 24th. overcast skies and 24 degrees. places like rockford, illinois, seeing snow, but that's it. it looks a lot worse than it really is. that's the snow side of the midwest. i want to show you what's happening. nashville, 30 degrees. you can see some spotty ice around. we will see the bull's eye for the ice, in nashville between 9:00 and 11:00 this morning, and we'll see eastern tennessee in

toward the western carolinas, temperature department, we've got that covered. just the moisture that we're lacking with this for this to really be a big storm. the forecast radar, this is noon. you can see where the ice is, can see where the snow is not. but washington, d.c. will pick up 1 to 2 inches of snow. new york, potentially just about an inch. not a lot of moisture with this, guys. cold air certainly there. i don't think we'll see a real robust storm. ice is a factor. >> alexandra steele, thank you very much. a big push to ban assault weapons. joe biden will head to richmond, virginia, today to make the case of banning assault weapons. president obama will hit the road to promote the initiative at some point, in a google plus hangout yesterday, biden says this is about gun safety, not gun control and urged people to take action. >> we donif you don't agree witn

on assault weapons, you may agree with me on background checks, making them universal. make your voices heard. this outfit, this town listens, when people rise up and speak. >> cnn political editor paul stinehauser following all of the developments. this is a major uphill battle. >> yes it is. dianne feinstein from california, she introduced a bill that would bring back an assault weapons ban. it would prohibit the sale, manufacture, transport, or import of more than 150 semi automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines with more than ten bullets. you can see on display, ten different types of assault weapons, including ab ar-15, the kind of rifle used in newtown, connecticut, last month. and at the event, family members

and victims of gun massacres across the country. feinstein made her case to the public. take a listen. >> these massacres don't seem to stop. they continue on. columbine, virginia tech, aurora, tucson, oak creek. the common thread in these shootings is each gunman used a semi automatic assault weapon, or large-capacity ammunition magazine. >> now, feinstein also gave -- i guess you could say an olive branch to gun owners. said more than 2,200 exemptions would be made for guns used for sporting or hunting purposes. that kind of make any difference with the nra? powerful gun lobby? here is their response to feinstein. senator feinstein has been trying to ban guns from law-abiding citizens for decades. disappointing but not surprising that she is once again focused on curtailing the constitution

instead of prosecuting criminals or fibsing our broken mental health system. the american people know gun bans do not work and we are confident congress will reject senator feinstein's wrong-headed approach. >> thank you for that, paul. appreciate it. coming up on "starting point," soledad will speak with richard feldman of the independent firearms owners association. more angry threats from north korea overnight. they warn of what they call physical countermeasures against south korea if they directly participate in u.n. sanctions against the north. the statement calls seoul a puppet to the west and says the latest u.n. resolution is equivalent to a declaration of war. rhode island could be the next state where same-sex couples could get married. house lawmaker as proved a measure by a vote of 51-19. the bill has been introduced every year for 11 years. this is the first time it made

it out of committee. if it survives, the government will sign it. a catholic hospital in colorado argues it's not liable for the deaths of two 7-month-old fetuses, because those people are not people. an interesting case, this goes against the catholic church's teachings that life begins at concept. this all from a 2006 case where 31-year-old lori stodgehill died. the lawsuit blamed st. thomas for failing to perform an emergency c-section to save the fetuses. so far, courts are siding with the hospital. later this hour, we'll speak to the president of the catholic league, bill done y donohue abo case. around 6:50 eastern time. >> what an interesting case. counterintuitive. >> the law versus the values and

morals of the catholic church. nine minutes after the hour. from fake girlfriend to real regret. coming up, america hears from notre dame's manty te'o. plus, the florida man squatting, real estate style, in a $2.5 million home. >> is that why it belongs to him? officemax can help you drive supply costs down... and down. use your maxperks card and get a 10-ream case of officemax multiuse paper for just 4.99 after maxperks rewards. find thousands of big deals now... at officemax. we've decided to we're all having such a great year in the gulf, put aside our rivalry. 'cause all our states are great. and now is when the gulf gets even better. the beaches and waters couldn't be more beautiful. take a boat ride or just lay in the sun. enjoy the wildlife and natural beauty. and don't forget our amazing seafood. so come to the gulf, you'll have a great time.

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the girlfriend was fake, but he says the pain was very real. manti te'o opening up about the internet hoax that unleashed headlines all over the internet. telling abc's katie couric he has some regrets, but insisted he was telling the truth. listen. >> for people feeling they were misled, that i'm sorry for. i wasn't as forthcoming about it, but i didn't lie. i never was asked did you see her in person. >> george howell joins us now.

he's been following this story, the ins and outs from the beginning. big question everyone is asking, george. did it help or hurt? >> john, look. you know, mixed reactions, there are some people who are sympathetic for what they heard the other night. others, not so much. but te'o all along, he insists that he really believed that his girlfriend was real. then when he realized he was duped, he admitted he doesn't know what to say about that. notre dame star linebacker manti te'o denied any involvement in the online hoax of a girlfriend never met, a woman we know now never existed. >> either you are the most naive person on the planet or this is the saddest story ever written. it goes on and on and on, this web of lies. >> i thought how could this all happen to one person? i had my doubts. >> te'o got a phone call in september, telling him his girlfriend dies of cancer.

then in december, before the heisman trophy ceremony, another phone call saying she was alive. but te'o didn't change his story. >> at the heisman trophy ceremony, you were interviewed, and you repeated the story, that your girlfriend had, in fact, died of cancer. why would you say that? >> at the time i didn't know. let's be honest. i did not know. >> couric asked for proof of an intimate relationship. and te'o provided phone records, even voice mail. >> i love you so much. sweet dreams. >> have you no idea who the voice was on the other end of the phone. you think that might have been a man on the other end of the phone? >> well, it didn't sound like a man. it sounded -- sounded like a woman.

if he somehow made that voice, that's incredible. >> te'o says this man, ronaiah toiasosopo, called him to admit his part in the hoax, the same man whose voice may have been on the voile malils. he also learned lennay he ckekus a marketing executive he never met. looking back at the web of confusion, te'o says the biggest regret is the impact on his family. >> the greatest joy in any child's life is to make your parents proud, and the greatest pain is to know they are experiencing pain because of you. >> the interview that left a lot of people scratching their heads. te'o did admit there were signs, he said he would try to reach out to his girlfriend to go see her. she would not be available. tried to facetime, she could s

him, he could not see her. was he duped? was this a hoax? you want to believe so badly, you will believe anything. that's the questions people are asking when they are watching the interview. >> this is one of those stories where the questions never go away completely. later on, the girl behind the face that manti te'o thought he was in love with. diane o'meara sits down with soledad in the 8:00 hour of "starting point." 17 minutes past the hour. here is christine romans with the update. baby, it's cold outside! bitter cold in much of the nation. forecasts for parts of tennessee, georgia, and the carolinas, freezing rain forecast. and several inches of snow expected in the mid-atlantic. a pediatrician found dead,

bound and burned in her home. police say the exterminator did it 36-year-old jason smith arrested and charged in her killing. detectives say he got into an argument when he was at her house to take care of a rodent problem. he strangled her and set the body on fire to hide the crime. a sheriff's deputy near orlando, trying to handcuff a shoplifting suspect. the guy spins around, back in the car, and drives off, dragging -- yep, dragging the deputy with him. the deputy dragged about 20 feet before he rolled out of the car, he's okay. the suspect was found later hiding in his own attic. and he is being held without bail right now. zoraida and john. >> i am going to go back to the exterminator story for a minute. that guy never had any criminal history before. it was a first, no arrest record whatsoever, not even for driving. nothing. absolutely nothing. never been stopped, and yet he kills this woman when he went over to exterminate.

unbelievable. it scared me to death. thank you, christine. it did. you are don'tly calling people, sometimes home alone, and they come into your home and look at what could potentially be the outcome. allegedly. i should say allegedly. 18 minutes past the hour. early read on news making national headlines. "santa fe new mexicoian." a new abortion bill. a victim of rape or incest could be charged with a felony if she gets an abortion. brown says this is not what she intended and she is working to make it clear the bill would not actually punish victims. total head scratcher. you have to see this story. the "sun sentinal" in south florida. a young man living in a $2.5 million house. not crashing at his parents' mansion. andre barbosa is squatting.

the house by the water in boca raton is empty, in foreclosure. he moved in. and police can't boot him, because no one saw him break in. but neighbors are not one bit happy. >> i bet. for an extended look at top stories, head to our blog, cnn.com/earlystart. follow us on twitter and facebook. search for early start. and zfollow us on twitter. it isn't a pretty picture. federal investigators get to the source of the trouble aboard boeing's dreamliner, not pretty at all. y friends are all around♪ ♪ my friends, they do surround me ♪ ♪ i hope this never ends ♪ and we'll be the best of friends ♪ ♪ all set? all set. [ male announcer ] introducing the reimagined

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we're minding your business this morning. 23 minutes past the hour. higher open expected on wall street as investors wait for a report on new home sales. has christine very excited. the s & p 500 topped the 1,500 mark only briefly. new developments in the dreamliner development. we saw pictures on the grounded plane in boston after a fire broke out. now, the remnants of the battery involved. christine romans joins us. >> the lithium ion battery in this plane in boston. you don't ever want to see something like this about a plane that you have been in. these batteries, lighter, more high tech, not like traditional batteries in aircraft before. and the faa, the ntsb, the hundreds of engineers for boeing, all trying to figure out what went wrong here. what the ntsb chairwoman said yesterday about that battery. >> we do not expect to see fire

events on board aircrafts. this is a serious air safety concern. >> this is really a disaster averted. you don't want to have a fire in the battery on the plane. they are trying to figure out what caused it. was the fire overheating caused by something else? or the overheating of the battery caused the fire? boeing says this about the investigation. we're working with this tirelessly in cooperation with our customers and the appropriate regulatory authorities. hundreds of technical specialists within boeing working with the government. governments across the globe, by the way, to figure out what went wrong. >> at least the fleet is grounded. the talk about apple, incredible earnings and the stock fell. >> two big price moves, apple down 12%. and the big surprise, netflix up 2 4 2%.

they apparently had a lot of new streaming customers. apple had great profit, but margins are shrinking a little bit. we like the cheaper products also, apple revealing that it's stepping up its -- its audits of supply chain, finding underage workers, making the products love so much. trying to audit, keep better control over the supply chain and keep the workweek to 60 hours or less and don't want children making your products. >> 12%, a huge drop. >> stocks not moving this morning. by the way, a lot of people wondering should i buy it? stock not moving much. >> what's the one thing we need to know about your money? >> housing recovering, but mortgage rates starting to rise. 3.42%. highest reading since september. a lot of you, telling to you refinance. saying wait, wait, wait, wait. starting to gun again. recent trend up a bit. but rates still near 40-year

lows. rates picking up a bit. keep an eye on that. >> is that the first time you said that? >> really, a couple of times where they gun a little bit, right back out, but four-month highs. >> i know. >> free money, geez. 26 minutes past the hour. americans sick to their stomachs. a warning from doctors about a bold new noro virus, really kind of sweeping the nation unfortunately. plus star wars, the next generation, disney's reboot has a high-profile director. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation,

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frozen on a friday. an ice storm threatens travel across the southeast. new questions about shandra levy's murder. such a big story. a decade later, a judge looking

closer at the case. what's worse than snakes on the plane? >> i don't think anything. >> how about 1,600 crocs loose by a school? >> that's worse. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john berman. friday, january 25th. 31 minutes past the hour. down south, bracing for this arctic cold. snow, dangerous ice expected across the southeast. as this weather system moves in. freezing rain forced salt lake city international airport to shut down for a time yesterday. a mess everywhere. jennifer delgado live in nashville, tennessee. where they are getting ready. >> hi, john. hi, sfwlor azoraida. you can see the salt trucks coming through. they have plenty of salt to choose from. we haven't seen any rain or freezing rain the last 30, 45 minutes. roads are wet. motorists going out there this

morning, the threat for black ice and, of course, icy roads will be great. we have been seeing rain. if we go to the radar, we're starting to see more developing to the east of nashville and also seeing more starting to the west. this threat will last through about 10:00 a.m. when temperatures will still be below freezing. joining us is beryl tidwell, with the tennessee department of transportation. this man knows everything to know about salt, brine and how to keep motorists safe out there. can you tell us, what are you doing out there right now to make sure that things are under control? out op the major intersections, make sure we don't get black ice and if we do, we're ready to take care of it. >> nashville, you get pretty conge congested. what can people do to help out?

>> be careful. watch out for overpasses, bridges, black ice. if you see us out there salting, give us a little room and stay back away from our trucks. >> reporter: okay. this salt is helping to keep people alive, getting it down there and lowering the freezing part. but you do another step of prepping the roads. >> we put out brine, basically liquid salt, to keep precipitation from sticking to the roadway and makes it easier to get off. >> reporter: so far a quiet winter and that's why we see so much salt over there. any concern about shortages? >> no, i think it will be a mild winter, so we ought to be in good shape. >> thank you, beryl. we'll continue to follow the freezing rain event. keep in mind for areas of eastern tennessee, they will see the greater chance for some more ice accumulation. some parts could see a quarter of an i in the same parts of north even georgia. when you get a quarter inch or more, you see the threat for power lines coming down as well

as trees, looking at about a tenth of an inch. dote let that fool you. it's enough to make you slide on the road. zoraida, john, enjoying yourself in the warm studio? >> so very nice. >> thank you, jennifer delgado. and thank you for the brining lesson. >> i had no idea. i'm from the midwest and never heard of laying brine. >> we brine turkeys sometimes at thanksgiving. now you can brine the roads, tastes as just as good apparently. the cdc says a new strain of noro virus has reached the united states from australia. the bug accounted for 58% of last month's stomach flu cases. this is why i'm apologizing that you may be at breakfast. causes nausea, forceful vomiting, diarrhea and severe abdominal pain. berman lived through this around the holidays. he got the noro virus.

why is this year so bad? >> a perfect storm for noro virus, what many of us call the stomach flu much not really a stomach flu. just a horrible stomach virus that makes you miserable for several days. let's talk about the three things that make this a perfect storm. first of all, a bran new virus, called sidney 23012. we saw it in australia last year. and we don't have any kind of immunit immunity. new to us. highly contagious. noro virus, you just need a couple of little spores of that virus, and you are really sick. another thing, a lot of people are symptom free, but they have noro virus, and they are still contagious. they don't know they are sick, walking around making the rest of us sick. >> sounds really nasty. how can we avoid it? >> hard to avoid. this bug is so contagious. a couple of things you can do.

first, wash your hands like you have ocd basically. wash your hands a lot. and don't just use sanitizer. people think i will just use sanitizer. use sanitizer, that's fine. but don't substitute for soap and water. even after you are feeling better, you can still spread the virus quite a while. after you recover, don't cook for other people. if you do, be really careful. you can still spread it. >> what happened in john's house? all the adults got it. all having dinner. but luckily the children didn't get it. i could imagine that could be a real problem for dehydration. it lasted only 24 hours. my big question. when will we see an end to all of this? >> noro virus usually peaks in january. hopefully we'll start to see this taper off in a couple of weeks. >> elizabeth cohen, thank you for that. appreciate it. >> thank you for bringing my home medical history on tv it

was great. >> well, you shared it. it was really nasty too, folks. >> it was bad enough the first time. now we share it with america. top trends on cnn.com. a murder mystery that turned washington, d.c. upside down. 2001. it was nuts. i was there. a brand new development in the chandra levy murder case. defense attorneys want a retrial. prosecutors withheld important information about a witness. we don't know which witness was involved, but defense attorneys say the government already had the information during the trial. 30-year-old ingmar guandice is serving a 60-year sentence after being convicted of murder. crocodiles on the loose? are we going to see them. it's in south africa. some 1,500 crocodiles escaped from a reptile farm after it was flooded. half have been recaptured.

one was located 75 miles away on a high school rugby field. one of the country's largest river, and now there are apparently a lot. >> a crocodile outbreak in south africa. first star trek, now star wars. j.j. abrams has been tapped to direct the first film in star wars trilogy film. star wars episode seven will follow "return of the jedi" in the chronology. expected to be released in 2015. we're all hoping it's better than the whole one through three thing was with the phantom menace. that debacle. this could be a little better with j.j. abrams at the helm. >> i know we will following this story closely. >> we're assigning some of our best people. 8 mi38 minutes past the hou.

the catholic church seems to be contradicting the assertion that life begins at concept. we'll hear from a church official. and the chase isson. trying to get away at all costs. and live to cairo to tahrir square. new tension there. meet the 5-passenger ford c-max hybrid. when you're carrying a lot of weight, c-max has a nice little trait, you see, c-max helps you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see, cause c-max also beats prius v, with better mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid. it's lots of things.

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welcome back. soledad o'brien with a look at what's ahead on "starting point." a lot ahead. an opposition to assault rifles. and manti te'o, today we talk to the face of the girlfriend hoax. diane o'meara will join us, and about a diet. how you doing on your new year's resolution. >> i need to lose ten pounds. >> great book. number one on "the new york times." "shred." he will tell us how you can lose four inches, two sizes, six weeks. >> great. sign me up. >> and cory booker, once again,

coming to the rescue. and super hero or the mayor of newark, new jersey. he saves the day once again. and is he jumping the shark. enough with rescuing people. it's very cute. >> and the notion you have to lose ten pounds is ludicrous. >> i do. thank you very much. i will be paying attention, soledad. live pictures from tahrir square. you will remember the world was watching when thousands took to tahrir square. some say they replaced one dictator with another. two years later, how much has changed? we are live near tahrir square. we have been seeing pictures,

some activity going on, looks like more people headed there. give us a sense of what's going on. >> john there, are clashes taking place. but they are not widespread. a few streets away from tahrir square, police have erected a barricade of concrete blocks. and 40 or 50 protesters, look like teenagers throwing rocks. on the other side, police are responding by firing teargas and sometimes police are throwing rocks as well. a stroot gee probably not in the police handbook. a few blocks away have you tahrir square. we expect more people to come as friday prayers ended. hard to believe, two years ago

ab uprising led to the outster of hosni mu bar umu mubarak. we want jobs being a better way of life, and an end to the mubarak regime. mubarak was outsted. however two years later, not all egyptians happy. the people protesting are the secularists, moderates, liberals who claim mohamed morsi, and the muslim brotherhood and islamists have hijacked the revolution and the principles of the revolution. two years later, we have a divided country. a country in a state of flux, but nonetheless, moving forward with their version of at the mockracy, john. >> i have to say, police throwing rocks seems like a combustible strategy right now in a somewhat chaotic scene. thank you very much.

45 minutes past the hour. arctic air mass about to settle in over the southeastern united states. the same system that's gripped a third of the country, snow, ice, and freezing rain are expected in the carolinas, in tennessee, and georgia. and that could spell trouble for all of you air travelers this morning. hundreds of flights have already been canceled. if you are at the airport, we're very sorry. on your way? check first. commuters in nashville warned don't travel if you don't have to. a lot of black ice out there. police in atlanta say a man drove drunk 15 miles and slammed his pickup truck in to at least 17 other vehicles along the way. a passenger in one of the vehicles was killed. this epic hit and run finally ended when the pickup crashed into a restaurant. 70-year-old michael snyder not seriously hurt. he is now in jail without bond. check out this police chase. albuquerque. a man driving a stolen suv, does a 360 degree turn right in the

middle of the road. later he's blowing through stop signs, crisscrossing medians, going the wrong way. nearly hit a school bus and some pedestrians. we are happy to report no one was hurt and he eventually pulled over and look at him right there. get out of that truck and hit the ground. very smart. >> one lucky guy. i don't know how smart he is. >> smart to do that, because he's in big trouble. her record at the post office in detroit puts cal ripken to shame. the lady retired after 44 years without calling in sick, not once. that's just shy of -- ripken has nothing on that. how did she do it? >> why didn't you ever take a sick day? >> i wasn't sick. >> come on, in 44 years you've never been sick? >> minor instances. you shake it off. you feel better when you get there. >> you never feel better when

you get there. your mother told you that. >> i was never sick. >> debra ford says the key is having a positive attitude, which clearly she has. congratulations to her. >> coming up, catholic church going against its own teachings as it tries to defend itself a against a lawsuit. we'll talk to bill donohue of the catholic league all about this, coming up.

51 minutes past the hour. is a fetus a person? the catholic church says yes. but a lawsuit at a catholic hospital at tom as moore hospital. the obstetrician and staff should have performed an emergency c-section to save the twins. the man is asking the state supreme court to consider this

case. colorado law says the hospital is not liable, but what does the church doctrine say? joining me now it bill donohue, president of the catholic league. a really tough one. doctrine of the church, but have you colorad law. which says that a fetus is not a human being. how do you argue that? >> well, look, the civil courts can do whatever they want. i understand what colorado law is, but the fact of the matter is, catholic church is driven by natural law. catholic church says natural law trumps the civil law. we know that life begins at concept. for the catholic church to say we'll hide under the rubric of civil law, because the lawyers say they are going to save us money, they are acting like har lots quite frankly. i hope the hospital gets stripped of its catholic status. the worst thing you can provide

is scandal according to jesus to create confusion and doubt in the minds of the faithful. never mind noncatholics. catholics themselves are outraged if the catholic church doesn't speak up. >> are you suggesting that the catholic hospital should have said, we're going to go ahead and settle this and we are not going to follow the law? we'll not going to defend ourselves in this particular case? >> yes. >> that's precedent setting? >> what are the choices in life? a if you are a catholic solutio institution, you either go along with the faithful or you are a har lot. the mission of the catholic church is to serve every human being regardless of race, status, from concept to death. you got covered by colorado civil law is not something that will sit well with catholics.

>> the bishops say this was the first they are finding out about this. a, do you believe that? b, any insight into that? >> it probably is the first. certainly i wouldn't know about this. but there are a number of catholic hospitals and institutions who have been playiplay ing footsie games. you can't have it both ways. >> what is the right thing? >> you have to come up with a settlement. colorado law won't tell a catholic institution you can't settle. what they can't do is to hide under the cloak of civil law, and say i'm sorry, we're still pro life, but you know what? you're not really a person when you are a fetus, because we're just hiding under colorado civil law. if that's the case, then they made a mockery of catholic teaching and they should be stripped of their catholicism. >> you look at hospitals, it kind of contradicts that.

when you look at the law, when it's contraception, that's one thing. but this is the law, and so i find this one a conundrum. >> the catholic church is always fighting laws. we're fighting against governor cuomo who wants to bring in nonphysicians to treat women who want abortions. the catholic church takes its dictates from natural law. as far as i'm concerned, it's not as difficult as some people may want to make it out to be not a whole lot of wiggle room if you are truly catholic. >> a catholic hospital has been stripped before because of issues like this. >> that's right. >> thank you for joining us and bringing your passion. just ahead, soledad talking to the face at the center of the manti te'o girlfriend hoax. stay with us.

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what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your crohn's symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need visit knowcrohns.com/tv and use the interactive discussion guide to speak with your gastroenterologist. just a few minutes left. >> we wrap it up with best advice. >> the advice from one of the stars of "mob wives" ramona rizzo. >> the best advice i ever received probably would be something that's helped me in the past year or so.

if you didn't hear anything with your own ears, learn to ignore it, because a lot of people like to stir the pot and cause trouble. and that's what i'm teaching my girls. gets you less aggravated, less issues, less drama. try to clean your ears of the nonsense, and the less you don't hear with your own ears, make like a statue. >> i was watching them, they were getting all excited because somebody said something about somebody that they didn't hear. so i don't know about that best advice. >> that is all for "early start." i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. >> "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. good morning, welcome, everybody. our starting point, dangerous freeze. the bitterly cold taking over the southeast. school systems closed, hundreds of flights canceled. we'll have the latest for up.